Fuji XT2 with Nikon SB900 HSS

brnorman

I have updated firmware on V6 II to latest version 1.1.007 and HSS only works about 20% of the time.  Any suggestions on when this might be more reliable?  Not sufficient to use on real photo shoot.

Antonio

Have you tried redoing LEARN HSS?

Due to jumping shutter timings on all Fujifilm cameras, the V6 II may not have captured the camera's most-used timing.

brnorman

Yes.  Tried relearning several times.  Still very inconsistent never get more than 3 good images in a row than a bunch that don't work

Antonio

Have you removed the metal spring plate from camera hot shoe?

Is the SB-900 in TTL mode?
Has HSS been activated?

When you shoot above 1/250s (X-T2's x-sync), you manually turned on <FORCED HSS>?
And when you shoot below 1/250s, you manually turned it off?

Thank you.

brnorman

Yes to all of those and it does work once in a while but not consistently.  

brnorman

It's only the forced HSS that doesn't work properly.  Works fine at sync speed or below as far as I've seen.

davidwattsjr

I see a similar thing with my cactus v6 II, and RF60x on my Fuji XT2. Sometimes I get HSS, sometimes it clearly isn't working. I usually find that each time I turn the camera on I have to relearn HSS. Is this normal? In some cases, I can't get HSS at all above 1/250?

Frankly a bit disappointed. Very open to ideas/suggestions to make this work reliably.

brnorman

A couple more data points - I have SB800 and get similar results.  When it doesn't work the frame is uniformly dark - I never see banding.  I'd be happy to test beta software or whatever might work - need to get this resolved one way or the other in the next week or so while I can still send the triggers back.

Antonio

Thanks @brnorman, Did you use auto-detect everytime when starting up the camera and V6 II?

FYI we recommend using auto-detect due to the smaller contact pins on Fujifilm camera.

From our experience, redoing LEARN HSS cured the misfiring problem.

Do also check if your V6 II is securely mounted on camera hot shoe during the shoot.

Could you let us know the shutter speed and pwoer settings on the SB-900? I have forwarded your case to our product specialist @raychan so he will try and reproduce your misfiring issues.

@davidwwattsjr, thanks for chiming in. Have you also tried redoing LEARN HSS?

Thank you!

Antonio

We could not find our SB-900 so we used the SB-910 for test.

100% sucess rate.

1. V6 II TX: auto-detected as Fujifilm, firmware 1.1.007
   
2. V6 II RX: AUTO flash profile  (switch on flash first, set to TTL with HSS on and then power on the V6 II to RX mode), firmware 1.1.007
   
3. X-T2: F3.2, 1/1000s, ISO 200, metal spring plate removed.
   

Triggering distance: 50cm to 3m

Thank you.

brnorman

Thanks for trying to assist with this.  I swapped the 2 V6 II transceivers from camera & flash to reverse and redid all of the steps outlined.  Same result I was able to get 3 good exposures after learn HSS than 5 bad ones.  At this point I am returning the units.  Hope that some solution with better reliability for my situation will be available in the future.

Antonio

Thanks for trying anyway @brnorman.
I run out of ideas why, so likely internal electronics defective.

Antonio

@brnorman, we tested again and could finally replicate the problems you encountered!

Do you use the viewfinder or LCD on your X-T2?

We find out when we use the viewfinder our forehead would sometime hit the V6 II. And at one instance it did made HSS not work.

So we suspect it's forehead bumping the V6 II hot shoe out of alignment.

See if its your case too, if you still have them.

mathematics

I have noticed similar issues with my RF60 flash and the issue was weak batteries in the flash. I suggest a battery change, as silly as that sounds.

Antonio

I have noticed similar issues with my RF60 flash and the issue was weak batteries in the flash. I suggest a battery change, as silly as that sounds.

Yeah, certainly that could be the reason too sometimes.

Thanks for chiming in!